A day in the life…

21Jun

I usually don’t blog about my day because I find that prosaic, but today was just…a really weird day. I woke up in Queens, as I’m there cat-sitting for Ray and Robbi, and went to have tea at Alice’s Tea Cup with the other Cynthia. For those of you who have been to Alice’s and have partaken in their awesome afternoon tea sets, you know that there is a LOT of food, and you’re allowed a to-go container. Which is what happened.

While walking home with my container of leftover Alice’s, a random woman made a beeline for me and grabbed a hold of my container. And pulled. I pulled back. She wouldn’t let go! And she looked me in the eye and said “Thank you.” I deliberated about 5 seconds. 5 pretty long seconds. She said “Thank you” again. Uh. Whatever. I said “ok” and let go. I figure, she probably needed the food more than I did, but…would it have hurt to ask rather than just…assume?! SO bizarre.

Later in the afternoon, my brother and I caught a quick dinner at Flor de Mayo, this Chinese-Peruvian fusion place uptown that has amazing chicken and amazing other foods. Quick dinner, because we were supposed to catch the screening of Mikado Project (a film Ray stars in, and I make a cameo appearance, which also marks my “screen debut” – in quotations because this may very well be the last time I’m ever on screen). I sent a quick text to Chil (the director) to say hi and let him know I was looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labor from last summer. He texted back with something along the lines of, “Uh, Cynthia. The screening is NEXT MONTH.” At first, I thought he was yanking my chain, so I CALLED him. He wasn’t kidding. Apparently, I had read the date wrong. It wasn’t JUNE 20th, it’s JULY 20th. Needless to say, Kenneth and I found ourselves with an evening free, which we decided to spend watching Toy Story 3.

We made a quick stop at home, where we sat in front of the air conditioner in my room for a good while, until I jumped 3 feet in the air because something was buzzing around my head. I turn to see a huge flying insect-like object hovering around my desk. Just as I was about to take the latest issue of People magazine to smash it, it lights up. Bright green. It’s a firefly!! I can’t kill a firefly! People write songs about them! So, with the help of my brother, we liberated it outside in the courtyard after trapping it in a plastic cup. Sort of dumped it in some plants. Then we sat staring at if for a couple minutes because, while it was moving, it didn’t seem interested in flying away or showing us any pyrotechnics. Finally, it feebly gave off some light, as if to say, “I’m ok, you guys can stop staring at my ass now.” Kenneth prodded me and quipped, “Ok, let’s go. It still works. It’s butt is lighting up. I wish my butt lit up like that. It would be so convenient in dark rooms.” Then he attempted to demonstrate how his butt would light up if it could. I won’t go into details.

Toy Story 3 was fantastic. But the 3D was so unnecessary. Just the theatre’s way of making more money. Damnit.

And after dinner, we got a midnight snack at Landmarc, where we both ended up rolling ourselves out the door, and decided we needed to burn some of the food off, resulting in a very VERY late night walk out to Riverside Park, where we found two pianos sitting in the middle of the pier. Apparently it’s some sort of project where the pianos are out there for public use. They were even painted with the words “Play me” or something like that on it. So we did. At 2am. In the middle of the Hudson River. SO RANDOM.

And this is at the end of a week of my brother in NYC, where he got very lost on the subway. Oh, this one’s a fun story.

A few days ago, I asked Kenneth to meet me and a few friends in Union Square for dinner. We were going to walk to Madison Square Park (23rd Street) for Shake Shack at 5pm. 5:15 rolls around, and no word from Kenneth. It’s fine, I get it. No reception in the subway. 5:30. I get a little bit worried. At this point, I’m checking my phone every minute, wondering where he is, with horrible scenarios of my little brother (who, ok, is taller and stronger than me) getting raped or robbed or killed in NYC. He finally calls at 5:45, and this is how the conversation goes:

Me: Where the hell have you been?!Kenneth: On the subway! I was on the subway for over an hour! There was no Union Square stop.Me: (uh ok whatever, I didn’t believe him) Well, where are you now?Kenneth: Uhh, I’m at 59th Street.Me: (assuming he’s talking about 59th/Lex stop off the R) It does not take an hour to get to 59th Street. Did something happen?Kenneth: No! I think it just looped back around. I’m at 61st Street and 4th Avenue.Me: (something doesn’t feel right, since there’s no 4th Ave at 61st Street – it’s called Park Ave. Are you guys getting it?) Uh. Ok. Just take the R back to 23rd Street. That’s where we’re at.(MORE THAN A HALF HOUR GOES BY. HE FINALLY CALLS AGAIN)Kenneth: There was no 23rd Street stop.Me: ….are you sure you’re on the R?Kenneth: Yes! I’m on the R!Me: Uh. Ok, where are you now?Kenneth: At 23rd and 4th Ave.Me: Head west, and you’ll see Madison Square Park.(A FEW MINUTES LATER)Kenneth: I’m at 23rd and 5th.Me: Did you see the park?Kenneth: No.Me: Did you pass Broadway?Kenneth: No.Me: ……….are you in Manhattan?!Kenneth: Uh, I don’t know!Me: Well, are there any tall buildings?Kenneth: Uh…no.

It turns out he was in BROOKLYN. At that point, he was so frustrated he just wanted to go home and watch the Lakers game in QUEENS. Which is what he did. We’re calling this incident Kenneth’s Four Hour Mis-Adventure on the NYC Subway System.

It’s way past time to sleep. But I’m sitting here writing this blog as I’m waiting for laundry to be done.